A Voice of Conservatism Living in Carolina Blue

Teacher Insurance Rates: Teachers Pay Their Own Premium

North Carolina is broke. Ba-Roe-K.

Hear it people. We have no more money and things are gonna have to change. And one of those things is that people who used to have the State pay for things are now going to have to pay for those things themselves!

Some will say that this is a pay cut, but I disagree. It’s not a pay cut. After all, it can’t be a pay cut if you didn’t count it as pay to begin with!

See, here in North Carolina, teachers have never had to pay for their own health insurance. Yet, YET, when they go and compare compensation rates to other industries they claim that they are not paid as well as they ought to be.

True?

Maybe. But what is ALSO true is that health insurance being paid for is a compensation. And in terms of salary, it’s one-to-one. After all, health insurance is tax-deductible.

I’m one of these teachers “whining about a pay cut”. I tend to be a little more upset about news like this. when we haven’t had a cost of living adjustment in 3 years and we aren’t getting a pay adjustment to help us pay for the health insurance (so while the term “pay cut” may not be entirely accurate, it kind of describes what’s happening to our monthly check). Plus we are being pressured to pursue post graduate degrees with no promise of being compensated for these efforts. I could go on and on…

Have YOU ever been in a classroom? Ever had 25 7th graders sneeze and cough on you at one time? That health insurance premium being paid is like hazard pay!

we aren’t getting a pay adjustment to help us pay for the health insurance (so while the term “pay cut” may not be entirely accurate, it kind of describes what’s happening to our monthly check).

To be fair, the goal is to move some of the burden from the state to the employee. It wouldn’t do any good whatsoever to place the burden of insurance costs on the teachers and then just give ’em more money to pay for that cost.

it kind of describes what’s happening to our monthly check

I agree, and I admit to a degree of snark. The point is, when a teacher mentions that she makes $xx,000.00 a year it should be pointed out that in addition to that money, that teacher is getting free health care that other industries don’t get. So, if you don’t count the health insurance as salary, then you can’t count cutting health insurance as cutting salary.

we are being pressured to pursue post graduate degrees with no promise of being compensated for these efforts.

I wouldn’t pursue that degree then. However does North Carolina give you additional lane changes for advanced credits?

Have YOU ever been in a classroom?

I have.

Ever had 25 7th graders sneeze and cough on you at one time?

I have.

That health insurance premium being paid is like hazard pay!

As a matter of fact, while I was student teaching I developed mono. For that, I got the benefit of getting to retake the whole semester of student teaching.